Nigeria hosts regional confab on racism, xenophobia

Lagos- Nigeria (PANA) -- Representatives of African governments, United Nations, non-governmental organizations and civil society groups have arrived Abuja, the N igerian capital, to brainstorm from 24-26 August on racism, racial discriminatio n , xenophobia and other related intolerance.
This is a preparatory meeting for a major conference coming up in 2009, accordin g to a statement made available to PANA in Lagos by the organizers.
"The outcome document, which will be drawn up by African states during the three -day regional meeting, will provide a key contribution to global efforts to comb a t these negative phenomena during the full Durban Review Conference, which will b e held on 20-24 April, 2009 in Geneva," the statement said.
"The purpose of the process culminating in the 2009 Review Conference is to eval uate progress and assess implementation – at national, regional and internationa l levels – of the Declaration and Plan of Action adopted by the 2001 World Confer e nce Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, h e ld in Durban, South Africa.
" In addition, the review process would identify concrete measures and initiatives for combating and eliminating these phenomena.
It would also assess the effectiveness of the existing follow-up systems and oth er relevant UN mechanisms, promote universal ratification and implementation of t he Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and iden t ify and share good practices, the statement said.